Opening Event of the 2002 World Series of Poker … and Predictions

A total of 610 players from around the world gathered at Binion's Horseshoe to compete for the $2,000 limit hold'em gold bracelet in the opening regular event of the 2002 World Series of Poker; 45 players were paid, and one man was happier than all of them. Mike Majerus, a dealer – or shall we say, former dealer – played aggressively for two days and hit a few hands to beat out a tough field and a strong final table. Prior to the event, Binion's announced that the WSOP has produced 25 millionaires (those with WSOP winnings of $1 million or more). Two were at this final table (T.J. Cloutier and Huck Seed) and another player joined the ranks. David Chiu needed at least a second-place finish to join the elite group, and did just that, finishing second to Majerus after playing brilliantly at the final table. Those at the final table were: Peter Costa, Laura Chao, Svetoslav Nechev (he finished third at Bellagio's inaugural $3,000 no-limit hold'em event), T.J. Cloutier (he is now the all-time money winner at the WSOP), Huck Seed, Jerry Stensrud (the pride of Commerce Casino), Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani, Chiu, and Majerus. Congratulations to Mike for winning more than $400,000. I think it is time for him to quit his day job.

Tournament co-directors Matt Savage and Steve Morrow did a very nice job of running the event. In fact, there weren't any penalties handed out for bad behavior. Additionally, there was plenty of play and nobody complained about the event being a crapshoot.

In my column last issue, seven world-class players participated in the process of determining groupings of favorites for the championship event at the WSOP. Now, it is time for me to throw out a few predictions of my own. Let's start with John Juanda. John always seems to reach the final table in no-limit hold'em events. He has not won a bracelet at the WSOP, and is due. By the time this issue of Card Player is published, he may have his first, and possibly his second. This guy is awesome to watch, and does everything I wish I could do at the table. Huck Seed is also playing great poker right now. During the opening event, Phil Hellmuth said that he saw a sparkle in Huck's eyes that he hasn't seen for a few years, and it was a sparkle of focus. Huck made the final table in the championship event in 1999, and won it in 1996. In my opinion, Phil Gordon has a good shot, too. Phil finished fourth last year in the "Big One" and has a great WSOP record for the few events that he has played. Money isn't a concern for him, because he plays "Rock, Paper, Scissors" for money instead of entering satellites. He told me his goal is to buy in to the championship event by beating Daniel Negreanu and Allen Cunningham out of $10,000 in Roshambo. Finally, Seattle native Aaron Katz, who plays high-limit hold'em in L.A., is convinced he can win. Aaron has beaten most players in L.A. in heads-up matches and shorthanded play, which are critical to winning an event.